He is noted for a two-handed playing style and compositional approach that uses the guitar's body as a percussion instrument.

[1] His first public performance was at Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C., in a concert with poet Allen Ginsberg.

[3] As a teenager, Reed was initially influenced by Leo Kottke and John Fahey and in the beginning of his career was a more traditional fingerstyle player.

In the late 1980s he began to experiment with his own highly individual and percussive style, shortly after Michael Hedges released his first records using some technically similar techniques.

[6] Later he played Washburn guitars with Seymour Duncan pickups[5] and in the second half of the 1990s a custom Adamas Long Neck Ovation.